I will hide nothing about the fact that I think anything and everything having to do with Converge makes any hardcore/metal album instantly better. So, the triple whammy of Converge-ness that the second full-length Doomriders dishes out Darkness Comes Alive is bound to make me an insta-fan. Released by Deathwish Inc, produced by Kurt Ballou, and featuring Converge bassist Nate Newton on guitars/vocals, Darkness Comes Alive might be the most cohesive metal/hardcore hybrid album to come out in recent years.

The key word here is hybrid. There are plenty metal moments, plenty of punk moments, plenty of hardcore moments — plenty of all moments mixed together — but none of the genres really stands out over the others. Because for every punk-jamming of “Come Alive,” there are the hardcore blasts of “Bear Witness.” And for every “Bear Witness,” there are the metal stylings of “Mercy.” Darkness Comes Alive shows the Boston quartet really coming into their own as a band. The riffs are heavy, the drums even heavier, Newton’s vocals somehow even more heavier, and the breakdowns just downright crushing.

Which pretty much makes the metal/hardcore hybrid at its finest. This is no weasely metalcore album. Doomriders have pumped something out so heavy it deserves the praise of both genres independently. If you have any sort of neck, Darkness Comes Alive will force movement out of your head –- in an up and down motion, whether you want to move it or not. Because like all good metal, it courses through your veins with a mind of its own. Put Darkness Comes Alive in your car, put it on track three, and drive your car into a brick wall. It’s the only fitting action something so heavy deserves.

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When people say they like all kinds of music, they usually add the caveat “except heavy metal”. Peter Woodburn doesn’t. In fact, he is almost always asking for more heavy metal. His love for music stems from seeing the Grateful Dead at the tender age of 11 years, and it hasn’t faded since. He loves everything from 15-minute-long bluegrass jams to thirty-second grindcore blasts, as well as everything in between. Give him a monster riff, though, and he will be forever happy.